Allotment and Garden Update

After a very busy couple of months, two fabulous family weddings, (one being in Italy), I am finally back to my normal routine. Well almost !!  The allotment was so overgrown when we got back from Italy and finally managed to get up there.  I set about pulling up the onions and drying them off to store.  The mangetout were almost over and the next later sown three rows ready to be staked and netted.  I am still picking runner and french beans. There has been so many that my neighbours have benefited too.  The flower beds on the allotment are amazing, especially the 'Asters' the colours are beautiful.  Just look at this bouquet I cut last week and I have more dotted around the house too.

Aster 'Duchess Mixed'  from 'Wilko's'

The Globe Artichokes are a good size, but I really only love the hearts and they were a little disappointing when I cooked some of them  as the hearts weren't worth all the effort that the cooking took, maybe next year when the plants are a year old !!

The garlic has been brilliant this year as have the onions, so they should all last me until next year.

Courgettes, not too bad but nowhere near as prolific as in recent years, and tomatoes not as good as I usually get either. In fact last year I couldn't keep up with either and had to make pasta sauce and freeze in batches, Oh well !!

As for my garden this year it has been fantastic. I grew more flowers from seed than I have ever done in the past and the Asters and Zinnia's have been so beautiful. I will grow them every year from now on. The 'Cerinthe' is a lovely and prolific as ever, the spikey marigolds unusual and lovely as long lasting cut flowers. The Dahlias never cease to amaze me for their longevity and the most precious one for me is my very first which is 'Pink Giraffe'  have a look at this selection of photo's to see what I mean.

The Garden in Bloom

                                                                      

Calendula 'Porcupine' 

Sutton seeds

Zinnia - Sutton seeds

Zinnia (pastel shades)  'Faberge Mix' Sutton seeds

'Cerinthe'   seeds collected from previous years plants

'Cosmos' Millennium, Unwins seeds, these are bright beautiful shades of yellows through to oranges and the foliage is less feathery than the pink and white shades, it's more ferny, well worth growing they are lovely. ( sorry photo a bit blurry)

  Dahlia  'Pink Giraffe'

 I have been visiting and catching up with the blogs I usually read but apologise that I haven't had time to leave comments.  Sometimes I long for the autumn and winter months so that I can get back to some reading and my crafts.  I love the allotment and garden, but between visiting my family and spending days at my son's enjoying the grandchildren life gets hectic and I never seem to have time to fit everything in.

Have a lovely week-end and let's hope the sun shines !!!

Oh my how they've grown !!

I planted some seeds on Monday 29th Feb and popped them on the bedroom windowsill covered in plastic bags and to my amazement they are up already. The first to appear were the 'Cosmos' seeds.  I sowed 'Cosmos double click'  Cosmos brights and 'Sonata' and then the Zinnia's 'Faberge' ( fabulous colours)  were up.  Next up were the chillies and the  peppers and coriander are just starting to peep through.

Of course I am delighted, but now starts the job I dread which is pricking out and potting on. It's not so much the job as the question 'Where the heck am I going to put all these plants' ????? it's too early too put them in the cold greenhouse at the allotment, so I will have to keep them in the two mini-greenhouses (plastic covered type) that I have in the garden. These will soon fill up as I already have my broad beans and onion seeds in one of them.  Oh well that will teach me not to be so impatient !

SPEEDY SEEDS

IT'S GOT TO BE SPRING !

I think it must be as the evidence is all around us. There are beautiful Spring flowers everywhere.  The Pansies in my front garden are so lovely and were planted last Autumn and survived the freezing winter. They really are  amazing plants for value, cheerfulness and colour, I love them.

I hope you all have a lovely week-end and that we all get some sunshine.

M x